There was a lot of driving involved in this trip, but our first stop was at Nevis Range for the high ropes course. I’m not really sure what I thought this would be, but my fear of heights and falling got pretty strong on a lot of these obstacles. (The first, and only, time I had ever zip lined my best friends thought I was going to have a panic attack.) But I survived although I held up a lot of people behind me (thanks for the patience, y’all!).

At one point I just plopped my butt on one of the rope obstacles. The guide’s response? “That’s a really unique approach! It’s not going to work though.” She was right…so I had to let go and trust the equipment.

It looks like I photoshopped myself into this pic, but if you zoom in, you can see the real-life fear on my face.

After the high ropes, we rode several more hours until we arrived at our accommodations at The University of the Highlands and Islands (Sabhal Mòr Ostaig UHI). It took a while to get checked in, but after everyone put away their things, we went to the cafeteria for dinner.

Although the weather was a little iffy, we drove quite a bit further after dinner to visit the fairy pools at the foot of the Black Cuillins near Glenbrittle. Despite the fog, this was a beautiful walk. I got so caught up in taking pictures that I didn’t even notice how huge the mountain was in the background! (see last pic)

Before I stop talking and leave you to enjoy the photos, I wanted to comment on the traveling in Scotland. As Americans, we’re so used to four- or eight-lane interstates, roads that cut through mountains, and basically finding the shortest route to our destination. In the western part of Scotland that we were in, we basically had to drive around EVERYTHING. All the roads we took were two-lane roads and super curvy because we were driving around mountains and bodies of water, rather than going through or over them.

The positive of that? The land and beautiful landscape gets left alone. Enjoy!

After we played around for a while at the fairy pools (some of the kids even jumped in the water!), the fog lifted a little bit. I couldn’t believe how high the mountain was when I turned back to look at the view from the pic above. I suddenly felt very small and insignificant (and actually kind of scared because of how quiet and desolate it was).

One of my favorite things about Scotland was all the sheep, so imagine my delight when one came walking right by the path back to the car! I wanted to pet it, but it had a baby with it and I didn’t want to be chased or bitten.

Are there any spots you’ve traveled to that made you realize how small you are compared to the landscape?

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